An optical neural network is constructed based on photonic integrated circuits to perform neuromorphic computing. In the optical neural network, matrix multiplication is implemented using one or more optical interference units, which can apply an arbitrary weighting matrix multiplication to an array of input optical signals. Nonlinear activation is realized by an optical nonlinearity unit, which can be based on nonlinear optical effects, such as saturable absorption. These calculations are implemented optically, thereby resulting in high calculation speeds and low power consumption in the optical neural network.

A method includes calculating a plurality of permutation matrices of an input matrix that characterizes a linear transformation of a plurality of input states. The method also includes determining a plurality of settings of an optical circuit based on the plurality of permutation matrices. Each setting in the plurality of settings is associated with an electric power, from a plurality of electric powers, consumed by the optical circuit. The method also includes determining a selected setting of the optical circuit based on the electric power from the plurality of electric powers and consumed by the optical circuit at each setting from the plurality of settings associated with the electric power. The method further includes implementing the selected setting on the optical circuit to perform the linear transformation of the plurality of input states.

Examples described herein relate to concurrently performing operations on optical signals. In an example, a method includes providing, to an optical circuit, a first plurality of signals having a first optical property and encoding a first vector. A second plurality of signals is provided to the circuit that encodes a second vector and has a second optical property that is different from the first optical property. A first attribute-dependent operation is performed on the first plurality of signals via the circuit to perform a first matrix multiplication operation on the first vector, and concurrently, a second attribute-dependent operation is performed on the second plurality of signals to perform a second matrix multiplication operation on the second vector. The first matrix multiplication operation and the second matrix multiplication operation are different based on the first optical property being different from the second optical property.

Systems and methods that include: providing input information in an electronic format; converting at least a part of the electronic input information into an optical input vector; optically transforming the optical input vector into an optical output vector based on an optical matrix multiplication; converting the optical output vector into an electronic format; and electronically applying a non-linear transformation to the electronically converted optical output vector to provide output information in an electronic format.

In some examples, a set of multiple input values are encoded on respective optical signals carried by optical waveguides. For each of at least two subsets of one or more optical signals, a corresponding set of one or more copying modules splits the subset of one or more optical signals into two or more copies of the optical signals. For each of at least two copies of a first subset of one or more optical signals, a corresponding multiplication module multiplies the one or more optical signals of the first subset by one or more matrix element values using optical amplitude modulation. For results of two or more of the multiplication modules, a summation module produces an electrical signal that represents a sum of the results of the two or more of the multiplication modules.

Systems and methods that include: providing input information in an electronic format; converting at least a part of the electronic input information into an optical input vector; optically transforming the optical input vector into an optical output vector based on an optical matrix multiplication; converting the optical output vector into an electronic format; and electronically applying a non-linear transformation to the electronically converted optical output vector to provide output information in an electronic format. In some examples, a set of multiple input values are encoded on respective optical signals carried by optical waveguides. For each of at least two subsets of one or more optical signals, a corresponding set of one or more copying modules splits the subset of one or more optical signals into two or more copies of the optical signals. For each of at least two copies of a first subset of one or more optical signals, a corresponding multiplication module multiplies the one or more optical signals of the first subset by one or more matrix element values using optical amplitude modulation. For results of two or more of the multiplication modules, a summation module produces an electrical signal that represents a sum of the results of the two or more of the multiplication modules.

Optical systems for performing matrix-matrix multiplication in real time utilizing spatially coherent input light and wavelength multiplexing.

An optical neural network is constructed based on photonic integrated circuits to perform neuromorphic computing. In the optical neural network, matrix multiplication is implemented using one or more optical interference units, which can apply an arbitrary weighting matrix multiplication to an array of input optical signals. Nonlinear activation is realized by an optical nonlinearity unit, which can be based on nonlinear optical effects, such as saturable absorption. These calculations are implemented optically, thereby resulting in high calculation speeds and low power consumption in the optical neural network.

An optical computation system, preferably including an optical source, a splitter, and one or more phase accumulator banks. A phase accumulator bank, preferably including two optical paths, a plurality of phase accumulator units, and a detector module, and optionally including one or more compensation phase shifters. A method, preferably including receiving one or more optical inputs, receiving one or more electrical inputs, controlling one or more phase accumulator units based on the electrical inputs, and generating one or more electrical outputs based on optical signals.

Hybrid analog-digital processing systems are described. An example of a hybrid analog-digital processing system includes photonic accelerator configured to perform matrix-vector multiplication using light. The photonic accelerator exhibits a frequency response having a first bandwidth (e.g., less than 3 GHz). The hybrid analog-digital processing system further includes a plurality of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) coupled to the photonic accelerator, and a plurality of digital equalizers coupled to the plurality of ADCs, wherein the digital equalizers are configured to set a frequency response of the hybrid analog-digital processing system to a second bandwidth greater than the first bandwidth.

Systems and methods that include: providing input information in an electronic format; converting at least a part of the electronic input information into an optical input vector; optically transforming the optical input vector into an optical output vector based on an optical matrix multiplication; converting the optical output vector into an electronic format; and electronically applying a non-linear transformation to the electronically converted optical output vector to provide output information in an electronic format.

In some examples, a set of multiple input values are encoded on respective optical signals carried by optical waveguides. For each of at least two subsets of one or more optical signals, a corresponding set of one or more copying modules splits the subset of one or more optical signals into two or more copies of the optical signals. For each of at least two copies of a first subset of one or more optical signals, a corresponding multiplication module multiplies the one or more optical signals of the first subset by one or more matrix element values using optical amplitude modulation. For results of two or more of the multiplication modules, a summation module produces an electrical signal that represents a sum of the results of the two or more of the multiplication modules.